Chinese Butterfly loaches

[Phoenixphire55]

Who's had these fish before? Any words of advice or interest on their care or behavior etc? I'm thinking of getting three or four and putting them with dojo loaches and white cloud minnows.

[toddnbecka]

Google Sewellia and/or Gastromyzon for more info. They're hillstream fish that come from cool, fast-flowing water. They do need a tank with a good turnover of the water volume. Some folks set up "stream" tanks especially for them, but interestingly they will spawn in a tank with nothing more than a sponge filter.

[smaug]

I kept them but not correctly.From my understanding they need good water movement and very clean conditions.That proves out with my experiance with them.When I kept them in my 20 gal non planted with plenty of current and generally cleaner conditions then my 58 planted they did ok.I tried them in my planted 58 with very little movement and a more natural environment [slightly cruddy] they didnt do well at all.

[Phoenixphire55]

thanks for the info :)

I've been wanting to get some of these guys for a long time, and now my extremely well filtered 20 gallon long seems like a perfect home. They'll be living with some dojo loaches (and eventually moved to a 30 gallon tank once the loaches get bigger) with plenty of current. Do cloud mountain minnows appreciate current?

[Jacko]

I keep gastros and white clouds together in a 29 gallon coldwater with the stream tank manifold you can find on loaches.com and they're doing great, been set up a year so far

I'd suggest rehoming the dojos, they're gonna get too big eventually anyway... they'll reach 10 inches easily. a 20 gallon is a good size for a small community of hillies and a school of white clouds.

[Phoenixphire55]

also, I'm wondering what temperatures you guys kept them at. My loach tank is reallly cold right now (as low as 58 at night). I may put in a heater during the winter because it seems too cold, especially once the weather really gets chilly. I'm wondering if butterfly loaches have the same temperature requirements as dojo loaches?

[Phoenixphire55]

I do plan to rehome the dojos once they get bigger (they're under 5 inches now). I am SO looking forward to them getting to 10 inches. How long does that take? My oldest male is about 1+ year old and still only about 5 inches long. I would however love to keep the minnows, butterfly loaches and the dojos in one tank. I've had multiple tanks before and neither I nor my boyfriend like having so many tanks in the house.

[Chrisinator]

I think it would be a good idea to not make the water freezing cold during the winter with a heater. Turn it to the lowest setting if it's too hot.

I made a mistake of buying a Hillstream Loach withoud doing research. He was fine for about 2 months, until my tank went into some problems and died. I also didn't have a powerhead in the tank which I know was necessary since they come from fast flowing water. Also, big round rocks they can hold on while the powerhead is pointed at it would be good.

[Crispy]

Kingfisher has had a hillstream loach tank for sometime. Lookup his hillstream journal.

[Phoenixphire55]

Woo hoo, I'm totally getting some butterfly loaches in a month or two! I've been thinking about getting them for literally two years. I don't plan to do the river tank setup though because that seems like its beyond my DIY capabilities. My plan is to put my powerhead on one side of the tank and aim it down (on full power) at a couple big "boulder" smooth rocks so the "hillies" have a place of high water flow to hang out in. Then the other side of the tank will be relatively calm for the little dojos. I'm hoping the dojos don't bully the hillies but if so, I don't really have a problem making the tank a species only tank for the hillies. The dojos will need a bigger tank eventually anyway. I just wish the hillies were more like $1 instead of $10 lol.

by the way crispy your 130 tank sounds aaaaaawesome

[Jacko]

Well, the manifold isn't that hard to make, not trying to push you on it at all, but it makes a great sponge filter too...

Congrats on the planning btw! hillies are my favorite fish!
You can usually find them online for 5-8 dollars each for the gastros, I think the reticulated sewellia go for about 8 online too... and if the tank is big enough, you could always check out the homoleptara (lizard loach) species :D

What I really want is a hillstream tank for the loach genus leptobotia... the ones that get 30 inches :P

[Crispy]

by the way crispy your 130 tank sounds aaaaaawesome

It is awesome. :) I have a video floating around here of it, but it won't let me copy the link over at the moment. Search for "Crispy's tank video" if you wanna see it.

[Phoenixphire55]

wow lizard loaches look really awesome. Those 30 inch long leptobotia look pretty sinister, but cool too!
There's something really awesome about loaches I think.

I looked for your video crispy but couldn't find it. Do you have it posted on youtube?

[Crispy]

I looked for your video crispy but couldn't find it. Do you have it posted on youtube?

Check out this thread... :ssmile: :ssmile:

http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/aquariumforum/showthread.php?t=51569&highlight=video